How to lock Apps in iPhone

If you are looking for an app to lock apps in iPhone then there is no need of that as Apple provides an inbuilt feature to lock apps in iPhone. In this article, we will explain about the same useful feature of locking Apps in iPhone which many of you might not know. After going through this post you will get to know how to lock Apps in iPhone without using any additional application from App Store and even without jailbreak.The same feature will also work if you are looking to hide apps on iPhone. Moreover, you can also control what all features are available to use for a particular application, meaning you can also lock specific functions present inside an App.

How to lock Apps in iPhone

The feature which will allow you to hide apps in iPhone is named Guided Access. In order to enable Guided Access, follow the steps given below:

Go to Settings and Tap on General

Under General select Accessibility.

In Accessibility, if you scroll down you will find Guided Access. Select Guided Access

Under Guided Access toggle Guided Access to ON

Turning Guided Access On will give an option of Passcode Settings. Select it

Here by selecting Set Guided Access Passcode, you can set Passcode which will be used while locking and unlocking Apps.

With this, you have successfully enabled Guided Access feature and now you can lock Apps with the procedure given below:

Open the App which you want to lock. For instance, take Messages App.

Now to Start Guided Access and lock Messages App triple click the home button.

Triple clicking on the home button will give you options where you can restrict features within an app as shown below. This is the best part of this feature. You might have seen apps which lock other applications but to lock features within an app is quite new and different.

Guided Access Options

For example, we have taken Messages Application, tap on Options at bottom left corner as shown above and Toggle Keyboards to OFF. You may turn off other features depending on your choice. With this, you won’t be able to use Keyboard inside Messages App. Tap on Done.

Guided Access Options – Restricting Keyboard

Moreover, you can circle out areas within an app which you would like to disable. In our example, lets circle out and disable Edit so that no one is able to delete Messages.

Circling out Edit

After setting all this up Tap on Start present at top right corner of the screen. Enter the passcode which you set earlier in order to start Guided Access.

This is it! You are safe to hand over your phone to a kid, friend or employee with whom you are not comfortable to share other information/apps on your phone. With the settings we made above the user will not be able to use Edit feature.

Edit Disabled

and also will not have access to the keyboard so cannot type messages either. Moreover, he/she cannot navigate to other apps or even Home screen. The use will be limited to just Messages App.

Keyboard Disabled

To end Guided Access triple click on home button and enter Passcode. Tap on End at Top left corner of the screen. If you don’t remember Guided Access password then follow our tutorial to end Guided access if you forgot passcode and change its password.

Guided Access feature is really useful when you to hand over your phone to a kid to make him focused only on reading a book in iBooks, or to a friend/colleague and not want him/her to see your other apps.

We hope that you loved to know about such a useful feature and now you know how to lock Apps in iPhone without the use of any other application. We wish that you learned more than what you expected as you can now even lock features within the app apart from locking the app. Let us know if you face any problems.

Hemant Mendiratta is a Passionate Blogger and keeps a keen eye on useful apps and gadgets. Enthusiastic about helping and empowering users with Tech related stuff. Absolutely loves running and goes for a run whenever he feels tired.
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16 COMMENTS

Exactly! I want to lock the Messages app from opening without a passcode OR I want to password protect a particular conversation; for instance with my bank. For some reason, if someone clicks on my bank in the Message list then a passcode will be asked. My bank notifies me of certain info that I want to retain for a time but no one else needs to know that info. It would be useful to lock the Messages app just in case or maybe lock the conversation with the bank OR even hide the bank conversation entirely, all without jailbreaking.

Boss, We are asking for app lock not locking features after opening apps. Especially with touch ID. It’s apple man! Kids/friends /family do use our phone sometime. don’t want them to open and social apps. Hope you find it soon.
Thanks.

Hi Venkssy,
I understand your point. According to my knowledge, there is no app on App Store that can lock/password protect individual apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Kik etc.
However, there are few good paid and free apps that can lock Photos/Videos, Contacts, Notes, Contacts etc. These apps basically make copies of your desired content(photo, video, contact etc.) and move them to a different folder which is locked with a passcode. The locked content still can be accessed from your iPhone’s Camera roll, or Phone app in case of contacts. So, you need to delete it from there(source).
Here is the app I have tried and works pretty well.
1. Hide My Folder – Free
2. My Hidden Folder Pro – Paid version of the above app. It of course has more features.
3. Secret Folder Icon – Paid